Sunday, January 10, 2016

I feel surprisingly relaxed going into the Seattle game. Whatever happens, I'm entirely confident that the Vikings defense isn't going to lay down like it did when its three best starters were out, and it's going to be fun to watch one last game that will be like they were in the days when I went to games at the Old Met. The one I remember most was a Monday Night Football game when we beat the Steelers, 17-6. That would have been 1976, and although it was early October, I remember it being a pretty cold night. But I was happy: vengeance for Super Bowl IX!

Still, as much as I hate to admit it, the Vikings probably did the right thing by going with the covered stadium. It's so cold that tickets are going for as little as $45; people are a lot less willing to sit out in the freezing cold for four hours than they were back in the 1970s. Let's face it, the value proposition has changed over time. Sitting at home watching a 12-inch black-and-white screen is very different than kicking back and taking in the game with a massive HD widescreen. And can be damnably cold in Minnesota in January.

Needless to say, my brother and a few of my friends are there; they opened TCF with Favre's last game and they're closing it today. Skol Vikings!

In the other game, I would be surprised if Washington has any real trouble with Green Bay. I thought the Redskins were crazy when they drafted both RGIII and Cousins in the same draft, but it is a QB-driven league, and someone in the Washington front office clearly recognized that two bites at the apple are better than one. And even if a player looks like the real deal in his rookie year, that's not necessarily the case.

LT Michael Oher – “He’s the grandfather of the huddle. He’s a Scrooge. He doesn’t want anybody to play around, no matter what the score is.”

FB Mike Tolbert – “He’ll say a corny joke every now and then, and he has like a 20 to 30 percent chance of making people laugh. But it’s just the thought that counts.”

TE Greg Olsen – “He’s the overseer. He listens to the plays and he’s like, ‘No, no, no, that’s not right. It can’t be even, it has to be odd. I can’t zoom, I can’t motion that way because – no Cam, that’s not right.’”

WR Devin Funchess – “Has no clue what the hell’s going on.”

WR Philly Brown – “He’s cool.”

WR Ted Ginn Jr. – “He’s always exhausted.”

WR Jerricho Cotchery – “He’s just the meditator. The Jerricho that you see scoring the touchdowns is going to be the same Jerricho that you see pregame.”

Of course poor Ginn is always exhausted. They send him on fly patterns as a decoy for everything from an off-tackle dive to a halfback screen pass.

UPDATE: Seattle 10, Minnesota 9. Unbelievable. Zimmer coached a fantastic game and you could even say that the Vikings deserved the victory, but you simply can't expect to win if your kicker is going to choke on a 27-yard field goal.

When people were making the Luck/RGIII comparisons, I would tell them that Luck was the better choice because Griffin would eventually get hurt in a way that seriously impacted his game. I wish it hadn't happened so early in his career, though. It would have been more interesting to see him get a few healthy years in first.

The funny thing is, Minnesotans only talk about the weather, but they never leave. The college grads might go to Wisconsin for a year to explore the world and find themselves, then they'll move in to the house next to their parents and settle down.

Except the rich ones. They either move to Naples or Scottsdale. I joined my family in Naples one spring break my sophomore year of college and ran across 13 people from my high school that week. And the "really pretty daughter" of a friend of my mother's turned out to be the girl with whom I'd had my most disastrous date three years before.

Vox: "Let's face it, the value proposition has changed over time. Sitting at home watching a 12-inch black-and-white screen is very different than kicking back and taking in the game with a massive HD widescreen. And can be damnably cold in Minnesota in January."

Plus, ya know, there's actually a possibility of hosting the Super Bowl once in a while. That's not gonna happen with an outdoor stadium.

Hey Vox, do you think that the push to get women into the NFL (playing) is going to start amping up?Over the past couple of years I've seen some commercials from the NFL (at least approved by the NFL) where they keep incorporating girls into playing football usually with a message of "don't ever let someone tell you you can't"...Most recently there is the commercial where this girl is playing quarterback and she says that she's going to be in the NFL. COmmercial ends with an NFL logo on it.

If women can get into all military positions off of the "boo hoo, don't exclude me" podium.... what's to say it won't happen in the NFL?

You know how quickly women are to vigorously cheer on something that they don't really understand when it's presented to them as "women are being discriminated against"

With that 4th the Vikings deserved to lose. Defense failed on 3 golden sack opportunities served to them on silver platters, and the Offense both gave the ball away and failed on the kick from spitting distance. Ugly.

No, they're just a young team who couldn't quite handle the pressure. If Sendejo doesn't drop the INT, if Munnerlyn doesn't take a stupid angle, if Griffen wraps up Wilson, if the kicker can hit from 27 yards, that's just inexperience and nerves.

Most soccer style kickers prefer the ball tilted like that. It opens up the sweet spot and you're less like to hook it (not in Walsh's case with the missed kick). I can tell you from experience, when the laces face you, you never know how the ball will react even if you make good contact.

Lots of Minnesotans here in Scottsdale. Even a former miss Minnesota I know.

Geez ... I was rooting for the Vikings even though as a Cards fan I think having Seattle win means the Cards have a good shot at home field advantage through the playoffs. Carolina is going to have a game on their hands.

NBC showed he hit the ball below the laces on that FG. The last kick he definitely hit the laces. The holder didn't care about the laces on any of the kicks?

Blair Walsh is now 2-for-5 in his career when kicking with a chance to take the lead with under a minute remaining in regulation. The three misses in that situation are the most in the NFL since the start of 2012 (including playoffs).

There are trap shooting competitions on Sundays down here (SE Minnesota), starting just after New Years. Only 8 degrees below, but the wind, up on the hill, with no cover, was brutal. TV doesn't show the half of it.

"NBC showed he hit the ball below the laces on that FG. The last kick he definitely hit the laces. The holder didn't care about the laces on any of the kicks?"

Brett Kern is talking a lot about it on Twitter. Brett's a punter.. but he's possibly the best punter in the game and he's an emergency kick off and field goal guy too. He knows a ton about kicking a football.

Basically he says, "its a bad visual for a kicker to see that. If you see that.. its definitely going to be running through your mind as you approach the kick. It doesn't take much to hook it."

He also said spinning the ball is hard to do with gloves on... so that may explain why the holder didn't do it. He was more afraid of dropping the ball in the cold with the gloves than making the kicker miss the kick.

Good year for the vikes all things considered, I'd say. Better than what I expected. Yeah, a win would have been nice, and it was nothing if not an entertaining game, but the fact is that you can't win playoffs by scoring 12 points worth of field goals. Other than that missed epic sack and the missed interception, hell of a defensive game by the Purple though.

As for Min, the Seahawks are a tough match for any team that depends on the run. AD had 31 attempts for 63 yards in two games against them this year. Wilson looked way off today though (maybe the cold froze his magic water so he couldn't drink it), but his improve skills saved the day with that pass to Lockett off the ol' snap-it-over-the-QBs-head trick play. Always makes me nervous when we resort to that one.

He also said spinning the ball is hard to do with gloves on... so that may explain why the holder didn't do it. He was more afraid of dropping the ball in the cold with the gloves than making the kicker miss the kick.

Wilson didn't use gloves the whole game.

Do the officials still let the teams work on the kicking balls on the sideline during the game? That holder should've had his hands and that ball good and toasty.

It started at 4:30 AM here, I was up, but fell back asleep. You had a 3-0 lead when I crashed, so there's that. I don't know if the NFL has a version of AFL's Mad Monday, a drinking day after the team is knocked out, but I'd totally recommend your kicker dressing up as a black kid so Adrian Peterson can beat him between drinks.

I saw that. He peeled off the arm so the other could punch it out, he was mailed. Would been hard not to fall to that one.

TD or no, they controlled the ball, the clock, caused all sorts of Seattle miscues. It was a fluke play that got Seattle through that game, not their superior discipline. They looked nervey and not in control the entire game save that one play. Vikes lost that game more than Seattle lost it

Except the rich ones. They either move to Naples or ScottsdaleI'm more likely to run into someone actually born in FL than Minnesotans. Probably the humidity. July/August isn't much different Orlando/Minneapolis (I like reading Lilek's 'bleat') and for the same reason, lots of lakes.But at least we don't have sub-zero (F) temps.Also in the OP Vox mentioned several reasons why they built an enclosed stadium. He forgot one, the possibility of a Super Bowl. That more than anything else was why the stadium had to be enclosed.Granted, the Giants (and Jets) were able to pull off getting one to sell the new stadium but only they could have done that.

Sorry I'm late to this party but I feel it is important to inform everyone that I couldn't care less about handegg or any other sportsball for that matter. And the alignment of Jay Gruden's eyeballs don't concern me in the least.

I don't know where the Redskins got the high school players on their defense, but they need the starters back. This is disgusting. We finally get rid of the DC Perpetual Losers...and their defense shows up for the playoff again.

On the subject of the current game, it's clear, the Pack are on the decline and the Redskins are (very surprisingly) on the rise.It's a good game. We can debate ''What if it were the Vikings vs. the Redskins?'' and ''What if...'' but if anything, the Vikes could well be the future of the NFC North.I said last year, if a team can't win more games than they lose/tie they should not be in the playoffs - even if they win their division.Perhaps I was wrong.Are the Redskins 'ready for primetime?' not even close. They still have a lot of work to do, but do they deserve to be in the playoffs?YES.

The Skins are positioned to win their division probably the next two years. The Eagles and Giants will have new coaches and a lot of work to shore up their defenses. The Cowboys are one good hit on Romo from watching their season go down the drain again. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Skins let Desean Jackson go; they will need WR help.

The Skins are positioned to win their division probably the next two years. The Eagles and Giants will have new coaches and a lot of work to shore up their defenses. The Cowboys are one good hit on Romo from watching their season go down the drain again.

I think the Cowboys will rule the division next year. They've got that high draft pick, that great offensive line, and will get Romo back. With Romo's health, Dallas's backup quarterback will be the most interesting backup in all of football, and my money is on RGIII to be that man and revive his career in Dallas.

The previous successful FG spooked Walsh as Richard Sherman came within an inch of blocking it with his charge from the right. Walsh being the usual soccer-player kicker must have an instinct to kick away from goalies. So he subconsciously aimed for the left side rather than right down the middle. That would probably give him an extra inch clearance from Sherman's outstretched fingers should he break through again. But Walsh over executed -- perhaps not being able to simultaneously deal with the laces and punching it through the left. (I know Walsh handled the laces on a previous kick, but he hadn't been spooked before it by a near miss.)

Great game & the Vikes D played LIGHTS OUT. If they finish out a couple extra plays & they could have won the game for the team.

Clearly, the most brutal play outside the last FG miss, was Josh Robinson losing his man during the bad-snap, broken play. Things went pear shape for the Vikes after that.

I was a little disappointed in some of the play calls. We had multiple trips to the end zone where the ball was not even thrown into the painted area. On the last drive when we went 3 straight runs with AD, which the entire stadium was anticipating. I would have preferred: 1st Down: Run right2nd Down: Run left3rd Down: Line up heavy stack with extra TE/FB on left. Play-fake left & roll Teddy out to the right. Have 1 unnamed TE or FB (ie Zach Line) from left to right thru the junk for a pass into the end zone. Teddy's progression: 1- run into end zone, 2- toss to TE/FB or 3- Slide in bounds.

Team cannot rely on AD for next 3 seasons as they have for previous 3 seasons. Norv needs to be a little more aggressive & Zig, when teams are expecting Zag more. This was a PERFECT opportunity to instill massive amounts of confidence in your young QB. Especially on a day in which the run game struggled.

Well Minnesota had their shot and lost. The missed pooch kick was good, but still pales with the hilarity of the imploding Vikes vs Giants NFC Championship debacle of some years back.

I am still in total shock that America's Team, the Green Bay Packers, won yesterday. Was it all part of some diabolical plot by McCarthy to play the weaker Redskins and advance to the Divisional round? Who knows.

Vikings are definitely on the rise though and the Packers do not own the NFC North anymore. Most say Bridgewater is not a dynasty quarterback and I agree, but everyone can say he beat expectations by a longshot. If he grows as much next year as he did this year the Vikings will have the dual-threat offense they need to go deep into the Playoffs.